The present disclosure generally relates to a reusable container and, more particularly, to a reusable, foldable crate for moving or storing documents, papers, or files.
Conventional boxes for shipping or storing documents, papers, or files are constructed from disposable materials such as cardboard or paper. The disposable boxes are typically thrown out at the final destination for moving or office relocation, and therefore, the disposable boxes do not require transportation back to the shipping facility. The disposal of the disposable containers at the final destination requires the shipping company to produce new boxes for the next move. The production and subsequent disposal of the disposable boxes is a waste of material resources. Additionally, although the insubstantial materials from which the disposable boxes are constructed allow for ease of disposal, they also allow the disposable containers and their contents to be easily damaged by adverse environmental conditions such rain or snow, or through rough handling. To solve the waste and durability problems associated with disposable boxes, the prior art proposed using durable crates constructed from plastics or metals for transporting and storing documents, papers, or files.
The durable crates provide better protection for their contents during shipping or storing. The durable crates can be reused for subsequent moves or office relocations. Therefore, the durable crates reduce the problems of durability and the waste of material resources associated with the disposable boxes. However, the use of the durable crates to transport documents, papers, or files wastes shipping resources, because the durable crates require shipping from the final destination of the move or the office relocation back to the shipping facility so that the durable crates can be sorted and reused. The durable crates occupy the same amount of shipping space or storage space regardless of whether the durable crates are full or empty. Thus, shipping and storage resources are wasted because of the amount of space consumed to ship the empty durable crates from the final destination of the move or office relocation back to the shipping facility and the amount of space consumed to store the empty durable containers.
To solve the shipping and storing space problems associated with durable crates, the prior art proposed using either collapsible or nestable durable crates constructed from plastics or metals for transporting and storing goods. The collapsible durable crates of the prior art can be flattened when empty to reduce the shipping and storage space consumed by empty crates. Although the collapsible durable crates reduce the shipping and storage space problem associated with the durable crates, current designs are complex. With respect to the nestable crates, the degree to which crates can nest within one another is dependent upon a number of factors such as the degree of taper. However, the greater the taper, the more wasted space, particularly when rectangular objects like files and binders are carried by the nestable crates. Nestable crates also require the use of more material in their construction because the walls are not vertical and must be made thicker to obtain the same strength as a vertical wall.
The disposable boxes, the durable crates, and the collapsible/nestable durable crates are dedicated for shipping and storing only one size of document, file, or paper. These prior art containers fail to efficiently utilize the volume of space provided by the containers when shipping and storing other sizes of documents, papers, or files. When shipping and storing documents, papers, or files for which the crate was not sized, the prior art containers can damage and jumble the documents, papers, or files. In some instances, the prior art containers simply cannot accommodate other sizes of documents, papers, or files within the containers. The prior art containers further waste shipping and storage resources when documents, papers, or files of various sizes are shipped or stored because the volume of space provided by the containers is not efficiently utilized. This increases the number of prior art containers that must be shipped to the final destination and the number of empty containers that must be shipped back from the final destination. Thus, a need exists for a container that addresses the problems inherent in the prior art.